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Old 26-10-2007, 11:32   #16
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There are also several great books on catamarans which help define which characteristics are most favorable for you mission
White's book comes to mind
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Old 26-10-2007, 11:41   #17
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There are also several great books on catamarans which help define which characteristics are most favorable for you mission
White's book comes to mind
"The Cruising Multihull" by Chris White is indeed a good resource - once you recognize the appendix of production boats is WAY out of date and useless for a shopper today. That said, the physics and design principles Chris discusses are timeless. JMHO

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Old 26-10-2007, 11:46   #18
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Oh I agree
I think you should only apply principle to choices because everyone's opinion is well their opininon.
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Old 26-10-2007, 12:44   #19
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Dirkdig asked for recommendations on other boats
Right you are. I didn't catch that in my first reading. (The main reason for my comment was actually not to stem thread drift but rather to see my "posts" number reach 100. That's how exiting my life is!)

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I think this thread has given dirkdig some alternatives but they are probably all more costly than the Bahia- is that so?
An alternative within the FP line might be the Belize or Venezia. Still plenty big but quite a bit less expensive. I don't know if they have any of the issues that Dave found in the Bahia though.

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Old 26-10-2007, 14:31   #20
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An alternative within the FP line might be the Belize or Venezia. Still plenty big but quite a bit less expensive. I don't know if they have any of the issues that Dave found in the Bahia though.
The Belize does from my first hand experience - although I can't honestly remember if the head discharge was above the water line. I may still have knots on the top of my head from banging it standing up from the nav station. I have no first hand knowledge about the Venezia.

In fairness to FP, their later versions have better access into the cockpit from on deck. However, IMHO, I consider these to be adequate charter boats, not necessarily world cruisers. It's clear that they were intended for charter service.

I'll stop now at the risk of pissing off a happy FP owner. I'm sure there are some out there.

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Old 27-10-2007, 01:33   #21
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I think they also have the engines under the aft bunks.
Dave

Engines are under the aft bunks but there is access from the transoms as well. Checks on oil, water etc can be done through either access method.
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Old 27-10-2007, 05:52   #22
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Hi Mike -
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Originally Posted by Jeannius View Post
Engines are under the aft bunks but there is access from the transoms as well.
Ah, that makes sense. I'll store that factoid away in my knowledge base.
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Old 28-10-2007, 15:27   #23
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The eternal Question - what to sail and....

I think this thread is going more sideways than forward! The starting point was the suitability of the Bahia 46 as a world cruiser.

Being an FP owner (Belize 43) I always fancied the Bahia over the Belize, it's simply sexier! Anyway the points mentioned against the Bahia in my mind actually works the opposit for me - the minor things mentioned tells me that it's an overall sound vessel.

I can confirm the hear discharge on the FP range is above waterline. I personally don't see the big deal with this - fellow cruisers don't discharge the head unless your moving and are well out from the pen! Then this is not a problem.

The FP range as are most, if not all french boats at the non exlclusive ranges, targeted for the huge charter industry fulled by dreamlike tax benefits from the French government. This is something that has to be factored into any decision prior to purchase. However, I strongly believe that the FP range is well suited as an offshore yacht. Considering that some modifications would be done to reinforcements of for example cleats, they do not have full backing plates but washers. Then again so do most other yachts in similar price ranges.

As previously confirmed the Bahia is fast, bliss - I think that is one of the key factors in selecting any cat for an extended cruise. Not to get there faster but in comfort! I have sailed both fast and slow cats and the slow ones always takes a lot of beating compared to the faster ones. The bridgedeck clearance is also of great importance regardless of those who claimes otherwise.

Price wise I do believe the best option is to obviously buy a privatly owned yacht, less used and better equipped that the charter cousins. The trade off will be on equipment , lets say a 6 year old Bahia privately owned and well fitted out could be approx. $400k the equivalent charter yacht with very limited equipment would be $330k. What would be the best option, take the wear and tear and spend the $70k on upgrades?

Anyway the selection criteria very often comes down to the boats you try the first, if they don't give you an indication of problems at the onset it will stick to you as a good boat, while there might be other boats out there, which mayy be better!

Only one way to find out - go sail a few of them and have a shortlist at the end of the trials with no more than 2 boats.

Happy searching and

Happy lead free sailin!
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Old 15-04-2008, 17:44   #24
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Talking from experience: we bought a bahia 46 at the bottom price, after it had had 5 years of charter and have been fixing her up while sailing the Carribean and the South Pacific for the last 3 years.
Bottom line: we are happy with our choice.
As mentioned in earlier posts, some parts of the boat seem too lightly built, and we did the following re-inforcements: a few layers of fiberglass on the bottom along the middle of each hull, added cleats with full backing, added backing at the back to install a "loading mast" also used to support a wind generator. Re-inforced the bimini structure. Added a couple of solar panels on the davits, replaced the rigging and the boom attachement. Added batteries, charger, inverter, some electronics, a watermaker, replaced one head with a light washing machine, etc.
Only problem: Yanmar SD40 saildrives. The first thing we did, was replace the engines that had over 7000 hours each, with new ones. To minimize the change, we stayed with Yanmar and are still regretting it. Their engines are fine, but nobody told us their saildrives are basically flawed by design and start slipping after 500 to 1000 hours, requesting a $2000 repair each time. This is true for the SD40, a little less but still so for its replacement, the SD50. Our first SD40 started slipping during the Panama transit and it took all the captain skills to complete the transit on one engine. Being still under warranty at the time, we contacted Yanmar in Panama City. It took them 4 months and 3 attemps to complete the repair, and the saildrive still makes a weird noise even now. We are now always wondering when next we'll lose our gear.
But this is a Yanmar problem, not a Bahia 46 issue.
BTW, the engines are not under the bunks. In fact, ease of access to the engines is one of the good features of this boat.

We have not experienced any of the issues listed by one previous poster. The boat sails very well, is very comfortable. One drawback: the rounded shapes of the settees in the main cabin and in the cockpit: they look nice, accommodate 12 people in charter, but are not well suited for 2 people living on board.
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Old 15-04-2008, 23:44   #25
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Their engines are fine, but nobody told us their saildrives are basically flawed by design and start slipping after 500 to 1000 hours, requesting a $2000 repair each time.
Claire... I've had exactly the same problem with Volvo saildrives except at around 3000 hours. Took forever to get parts and cost a lot to fix. Volvo saildrive internals are actually made by ZF of Germany. Wouldn't mind betting Yanmar are the same.
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Old 16-04-2008, 00:24   #26
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We have not experienced any of the issues listed by one previous poster. The boat sails very well, is very comfortable. One drawback: the rounded shapes of the settees in the main cabin and in the cockpit: they look nice, accommodate 12 people in charter, but are not well suited for 2 people living on board.[/quote]


Hi Claire,

We also have the Bahia as a serious contender on our short list of catamarans and wonder why you say that the settees are not well suited for 2 people. We have been on board a Bahia but have not yet sailed or stayed on one. We are going on a 4 day charter in June and will be keenly checking out the pros and cons etc.

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Old 16-04-2008, 01:27   #27
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Hi Lisa,

When you live on-board, you like to have a place in the main cabin, and in the cockpit, where you can be comfortably half sitting and half lying, for example, when you are reading, or on watch. The rounded shape of the Bahia settees make it difficult to do that. You can sit OK, but if you want to get your feet up on the settees, you have no right angle to lean against nicely with a pillow in the back. Now, with enough pillows stuck the right way, you can achieve a decent position in the Bahia, but the curves remain a pain to stretch your legs :-)
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Old 16-04-2008, 02:25   #28
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Claire

I know what you mean about the settees for liveaboard. Our boat is the same. What we are going to do is replace the saloon table with something at coffee table height. Then we can put cushions on there, put the feet up and have friends around. Old Lagoons (pre current ugly range) used to have the coffee table as an option and it seems to work well.
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Old 16-04-2008, 06:54   #29
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If you are considering the Bahia 46, take a look at the Leopard 45 and 47.
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Old 16-04-2008, 17:56   #30
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I admit I have not sailed the boat, but do have one renting the dock behind my house so I have spent a lot of time studying the design. I completely agree with Claire in that all the round settees are the worth for laying back with your feet up, which is how I spend 90% of my time on a boat. I do not like the galley layout in that most of the working counter space is on top of the ice box. So when you are preping food and need something out of the fridge you have to move everything to get access to the icebox. This is a real deal killer for me.
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